takeout

Pluraltakeouts (some meanings)

1. 1
   nounCanadaPhilippinesUSuncountable

   Food bought from a restaurant or shop that sells meals to be eaten somewhere else.

   They ate Thai takeout on the floor of their new apartment, surrounded by moving boxes.

   Takeout gets expensive fast when you order it four nights a week.

   Similartakeaway, carryout

   Note

   The United States, Canada and the Philippines say takeout; where the shop itself is called a takeaway, that word usually names the food as well. It works as a mass noun (we ordered takeout) and as a count noun (two takeouts). Before another noun, as in a takeout menu, it is the adjective at work.

2. 2
   adjectiveCanadaUS

   Of food, meant to be eaten away from the restaurant or shop where it was bought.

   The diner does a brisk trade in takeout breakfasts for commuters.

   Orders for takeout meals jumped during the storm, when nobody wanted to sit in a restaurant.

   Similartakeaway

   Note

   Built from the phrasal verb take out, the word closes into one where the verb stays two: you take out food from a diner, and you eat takeout food at home. The adjective belongs to American and Canadian English, sits right before its noun (a takeout menu, takeout noodles), and has no comparative.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   In television news, a detailed segment that looks at a story in depth.

   The network ran a six-minute takeout on rising insulin prices.

   Producers argued that longer takeouts left too little time for breaking news.

   Note

   Newsrooms use the word for the longer piece that steps back from the day's headlines to explain a continuing story. Penn Kimball, in Downsizing the News (1994), counts its cost: every takeout on a running topic uses minutes the evening broadcast could have spent on hard news out of Washington.

4. 4
   nouncountable

   In curling, a shot in which the delivered stone strikes another stone and removes it from play.

   The skip called for a hard takeout to clear the guard.

   With her last stone she made a double takeout, removing two of her opponents' stones at once.

   Note

   Curling divides its shots into hitting and placing, and this is the hitting kind, the opposite of a draw, which aims to come to rest at a chosen spot. A skip may call for a hard takeout to clear a guard; a shooter's stone that stays in play after the hit makes a hit and stay, and removing two stones at once is a double takeout.

5. 5
   nouncountable or uncountable

   In bridge, a double of an opponent's bid that invites one's partner to compete in the auction rather than aiming to penalize the opponents.

   North's double was for takeout, so South had to bid even with a weak hand.

   With short hearts and support for the other suits, she made a takeout over the opening bid.

   Note

   Bridge players sort doubles by purpose: a penalty double aims to punish an overreaching contract, while a takeout asks partner to name a suit. The usual phrasing is a double for takeout, or a takeout double, and a double of a low opening bid made before partner has spoken is normally read this way. Partner is then expected to bid, even with a weak hand.

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